Omar assures all protection to Kashmiri Sikhs

SRINAGAR - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday assured a delegation of Sikhs, who met him over the threats to community members in the Valley, that the government will take all steps necessary to protect their lives and properties.

The delegation approached the chief minister after some Sikh families reportedly received anonymous letters from extremists asking them to either embrace Islam or leave the area.

Moderate separatist leader and chairman of his Hurriyat group, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has also condemned the threats delivered to the Sikhs, maintaining that the Sikhs are part of the Kashmiri society and it is the duty of every Muslim to protect the honour and lives of the Sikh community here.

Since the outbreak of the present armed separatist campaign in the Valley in early 1990s, most members of the Sikh community continue to live here even after the minority Kashmiri Pandit community migrated to other parts of the country.

Around 60,000 Sikhs live in towns and villages across the Kashmir Valley.